Archive for: 2011

Baseball is one of the biggest sports in the States, holding the title of America’s National Game, and online casino sites have been quick to capitalise on this appeal by providing slot games themed around it. Although it is not the only one around, the five reel video slot Hot Shot does seem to be the one that has grabbed the hearts and minds of baseball fans – as well as those for whom the attraction is casino gaming. So just what is it about this particular slot game that makes it a home run hitter for both baseball and casino fans?… [more]

Tuesday night, I sat in the first row of the promenade reserved infield, leaned over the railing, held my breath and watched Jose Reyes on third base, a base he had obtained by getting a single and then strolling over to second on a throwing error and then, of course, stealing third base. This was after watching Jose Reyes make the Home Run Apple light up not once but twice, improbably, impossibly, twice – once was amazing but twice just felt supersonic.
And now he was doing what he does best, which is annoy pitchers as he dances while taking a healthy lead down the baseline.… [more]

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
Allan H. (Bud) Selig, Commissioner
245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10167
Dear Commissioner Selig:
Your actions at last night’s Mets-Cubs game at Citi Field on 9/11/11 were reprehensible. Not allowing the Mets players to wear the NYPD and other First Responder hats – at a meaningless game you co-opted as a platform to grandstand MLB’s relevancy – was inexcusable.
Learning that you not only denied the Mets’ official request to wear the hats, but that a MLB representative went the extra yard to confiscate them from the team at the conclusion of the pre-game ceremonies, so that no one could defy your order and do the right thing and wear them anyway, makes me ashamed to be a fan of Major League Baseball.… [more]

We knew it was bad.
We knew there were rumblings.
I had people coming to this site and posting comment after comment insisting that the Wilpons had no money problems, that to say otherwise was bullshit (and worse).
We heard the rumors that the Mets were wholesale dumping blocks of tickets with ticket brokers at deeply discounted prices, who were then recycling them through StubHub and the other broker sites, which was why there were so many cheap tickets out there for so long.
And now, this. This is just about as far rock bottom as you can get. (I was originally going to say “Even the Astros aren’t selling tickets on Groupon” but oh, yes, they are.)
As someone who still holds tickets to six games this year, it’s infuriating.… [more]

You know, I adore R.A. Dickey just like everyone else. I think it’s a gift from the heavens that he’s on Twitter, and know that every fan from every other team is miserably jealous.
But after a miserable, swift, embarrassing 10-0 shutout in Philadelphia, I do not want to see him yukking it up on social media. I just don’t. Especially not so close to the end of the game (given, that end came VERY EARLY LAST NIGHT, but still).
Is it just me? Probably.… [more]

Call me cynical, but it’s hard for me to read about this and not think, “We just don’t have enough group sales to fill those crappy Big Apple seats so we’ll cave and do one of those social media nights that the kids are into these days.”
For $41:
Seating in the exclusive Big Apple Reserved section
$18 food and beverage credit [so essentially your ticket is $23, which is about what the Big Apple seats are worth in my opinion]
“Connect” T-Shirt and name tag sticker [Generic MLB shirt with Mets branding]
Automatically eligible for in-game Twitter giveaways during each inning
I hate the Big Apple seats and find them to be very, very overpriced, even with a $18 food and beverage credit (because they only do that because they hope that most people won’t use all $18 of theirs) and the rest of me says, “NO ONE ON AT&T WILL HAVE SIGNAL ANYWAY.”
Let’s take a look at what other teams are doing for Social Media Night.… [more]

Murphy out for the year, Reyes to the DL, and the New York Times with the breaking news that casual fans might not have a lot of reasons to go out to Citi Field.
It’s not a lot of fun right now, I’ll give you that. … [more]

I never keep score at games. I don’t do it mostly because I can’t take pictures and take notes during games and keep score (although I know people who do all of them). But I am tired of taking photos sitting upstairs. I have some sort of creative block that is making me bored in the extreme and I don’t take any pictures and then I go home and have nothing to work with. So I decided I would stop lugging the camera, and would instead bring the lovely scorebook I bought from Eephus League at the beginning of the season, which I have never used.… [more]